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Dr Catalina Turcu
Associate Professor
The Bartlett School of Planning
Faculty of the Built Environment
- Joined UCL
- 1st Oct 2010
Research summary
ORCiD: 0000-0003-2663-2586
My work contributes to the understanding and measurement of local sustainability in urban areas. Theoretically, my research adds the institutional dimension to the traditional three-pillar (economic, social, environmental) understanding of sustainability. Empirically, my research examines sustainable urban transformations at the local level by integrating social, institutional and physical aspects of the built environment. My core research contributions are summarised below under three inter-related themes.
1. The role of institutions in shaping local sustainability. My work employs institutional lens to examine local sustainability processes. It examines formal institutions and governance frameworks that shape these processes, as well as informal institutions such as social responsibility and institutional trust.
2. The social context of local sustainability. My research contributes to an agency and intersectional understanding of sustainability which is bottom-up and place-based. The social production and re-production of sustainability knowledge at the local level is a recurring sub-theme here and has been extensively developed in relation to sustainability indicators.
3. Urban narratives of local sustainability. In this body of work I look at how sustainable cities imaginaries (such as low-carbon, healthy, circular city) are applied in spatial planning and the built environment at the local level, and in relation to Sustainable Development Goal 11 ('Sustainable Cities and Communities').
Current research projects:
Teaching summary
Currently, I teach and convene the following modules at the postgraduate level:
- Sustainable Urban Development Key Themes (BPLN0058)
- Sustainable Urban Development Project (BPLN0106)
- Major Research Projects (BPLN0052)
I have also taught on the following topics at UCL, LSE and UAUIM:
- Governing urban sustainability (UCL, pgt)
- Green futures (UCL, ug)
- Making cities: the production of the built environment (UCL, ug)
- Urban poverty, spatial and social exclusion (LSE, ug)
- International housing and social change (LSE, ug)
- Public administration and urban management (UAUIM, ug)
- Materials and building specification (UAUIM, ug)
Education
- University College London
- Other Postgraduate qualification (including professional), Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education | 2014
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- Doctorate, Doctor of Philosophy | 2010
- London School of Economics and Political Science
- Other higher degree, Master of Science | 2001
- Universitatea din Bucuresti
- Other higher degree, Master | 1999
- Universitatea din Bucuresti
- Other Postgraduate qualification (including professional), Diploma of Architecture | 1996
- Universitatea din Bucuresti
- First Degree, Bachelor of Architecture | 1993
Biography
I am an interdisciplinary scholar by training (architecture, social policy, political science) and interest (sustainability). I hold a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Sciences (LSE) and degrees in housing (MSc, LSE), urban planning (MA, UAUIM) and architecture (BArch and DipArch, UAUIM). I have worked in architecture and planning consultancy for 10 years before joining academia.